AREVA strengthens its ties with Brazil in the nuclear and transmission & distribution sectors

Press release

December 23, 2008

On the occasion of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to Brazil, AREVA announces that it has signed several contracts and agreements which strengthen its longstanding privileged relationship with the country:

• Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of AREVA, and Othon Luiz Pinheiro da Silva, CEO of Brazilian electric utility Eletronuclear, today signed a memorandum of understanding confirming the industrial cooperation between the two groups and underlining their commitment to working together to extend Brazil's fleet of nuclear plants.

AREVA has also indicated its willingness to provide its partner with the expertise it requires to fabricate the nuclear fuel needed for the new reactors.

• AREVA and Eletronuclear have also signed a services contract for the Angra 1 plant[1].

• In the electricity transmission and distribution sector, Anne Lauvergeon and Jorge Palmeira, CEO of electric utility Eletronorte, have signed a contract worth around 20 million euros for the supply of an electricity sub-station.

AREVA has a strong presence in Brazil where it employs 2 700 people. The group built Brazil's Angra 2 reactor and is supplying many of the components for Angra 3.

[1] Brazil has two nuclear power plants, Angra I (626 MW) and Angra II (1275 MW, built by AREVA). They are located in Angra dos Reis, in Rio de Janeiro state.